Begin Again, to End Again
by Vilio
Summary: Earth's time has ended. The surviving champions of Earth's last battle have been called for a new duty. For many this is a new beginning and for others a well deserved end. BTVSxLOTRxATS
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I do not own BTVS, LOTR, or ATS.

The intense burning pain in her chest was just enough to rouse Faith into a state of semi-consciousness. Her lungs were on fire and she couldn't breathe. Feeling trapped a sharp twinge of panic consumed her, she struggled to break through the thick black fog that pressed in making any movement strained and slow. Sheer will power forced her to open her eyes, which were suddenly assaulted by a sharp burning pain similar to the one in her chest. Ignoring the pain she looked at her surroundings, seeing only deep thick blackness all around her, almost missing the far off hazy gray light above her, that was immediately blocked out by a dark slow moving shape. Squinting she was able to make out the form of a person. Opening her mouth to shout, she wound up gagging on a mouthful of salt water.

Common sense broke through her panicked confusion, hitting her with the cold realization she was drowning. Dredging up what little strength she could out of her unresponsive muscles, she kicked upwards to the shape above her, grabbing at their clothing and dragging them up with her. Breaking through the water's surface, her lungs quickly pushed out the water clogging them. Coughing fitfully she managed to turn the body over and was faced with wide glassy blue eyes.

"Oh no… Amber."

Knowing that she had little time for mourning and had to concern herself with her own safety she kicked away from the dead body of one of the younger slayers, and immediately scanned the area for any signs of survivors.

"Faith!"

The distant voice triggered a sudden flash of memory that hit her with such force she thought she had been struck.

_Fire everywhere, bodies of friends lifeless in front of her, someone's calling to her through the cries of pain. Hate so thick she could taste it-_

"Faith!"

The same familiar voice snapped her out of the trance.

"B-Buffy!" She tried to shout, but managed only a weak croak.

Turning to the sound of the voice she made out the silhouettes of the others clinging to a very large drifting piece of wood. Swimming against the large swells Faith burned up the last of her strength getting to them. Once her hand gripped the wood she felt a wave of relief wash over her.

Thoroughly exhausted she laid her head against the hard wood. "Amber… dead." She managed to push out between breaths.

There was silence for a moment. "I know we lost a lot."

Buffy's voice was cold and detached, and when Faith heard it her heart sank. The situation must worse then she thought for Buffy to close off all emotion. Having a good suspicion of what it was the dark haired slayer tentatively began to push for more information, even though part of her dreaded hearing it.

"Who's left?"

"Xander, Vi, Sara, Jennifer, Taylor and Scott, Connor…"

After the first three names Faith knew exactly what was wrong, and her heart sank even further. Willow and Dawn, if they were here they would have been at the top of the list ahead of Xander. Faith tuned out the rest of the names Buffy was listing, lost in her own thoughts about her adopted little sister, and the red headed witch, until the blond slayer began to sob.

"We can't find Willow or Dawn. Giles is so badly wounded we can't stop the bleeding, and I don't know how we got here, and everything-"

Faith's sadness momentarily forgotten as a terrible realization hit her. "How bad?" She tried to control the rapidly growing fear in her voice, as her full attention was diverted now to a completely different subject other than the group's missing members.

The second oldest slayer had always had one fear and it had nothing to do with the Hellmouths or the deadly demons that she faced. Her fear was of a natural killer more than a supernatural one, and her preoccupation trying to survive and the loss of Dawn, Willow, and the others, had kept her distracted from letting the reality of her current location seep into her brain.

Faith had always hated large, deep bodies of water, where things could come up and attack you unseen and unheard. Deep water was the one place in all the world that the slayer felt powerless.

"W-what?" Buffy sniffed.

"How badly wounded is Giles and the rest?" Faith demanded more than asked as she lifted herself up on the wood part way to get a better look at the ex-watcher.

Confused Buffy stooped crying for a moment and watched Faith curiously. "Giles is losing a lot of blood the other's wound's are minor." She answered.

"Damn."

Buffy was confused to what point Faith was trying make and she watched the slayer she now called a sister glare fearfully at the water. Touching the normally fearless girl's shoulder she tried to gain back her attention. "Why?"

Faith stopped looking at the water and sighed heavily.

"B, we're in the middle of a god damn ocean and we're losing blood on top of being surrounded by dead bodies that's got to attract sharks."

A flicker of some unnamed emotion flashed through Buffy's lifeless eyes, before she spoke again with the cold and detached voice from earlier. "Dawn and Will are gone, I don't care anymore what happens, but we are still responsible for the others. What should we do?"

Faith didn't flinch when Buffy didn't express any regard to her safety, she had long gotten used to Buffy thinking of the two of them as being one. The two original slayers had become an inseparable team after the battle with the First three years ago, being officially adopted into the family Faith had taken the Summers last name. Together, along with the other Scoobies they had been undefeatable, that is until now. And that defeat had been too much, the wounds too fresh Faith wondered if she or even they had the strength to handle more.

Knowing that she would follow along with any decision the blond slayer made, just as Buffy followed her when ever a time had called for it, Faith grabbed the hand of her sister and squeezed.

"Pray."

Willow was not happy.

Who ever it was, be they Slayer, Vampire, one eyed best friend, or Key, if they kept touching her while she was sleeping, she was going to teleport their happy asses to the middle of Hong Kong during rush hour.

Feeling the hands messing with the sleeve of her shirt, she pulled her arm away harshly. "Stop!" She hissed, still too tired to open her eyes.

The hands pulled away and she began to drift off again. Tired. Why was she so tired? She could barely remember. Oh well, thinking bad, sleep good.

A moment later the tugging began again, followed by a loud ripping sound.

Sitting up fully, she held out a hand, and immediately encased the annoying person who had ripped her shirt in a giant bubble. The person screamed something unintelligible. Willow blinked hard against the harsh sunlight that was streaming through the windows into the room, and tried to focus her fuzzy eye sight on the occupant of the bubble that was now hovering near the ceiling.

Seeing straight was proving to be a lot more difficult than it should. Everything was blurry, making the witch unsure of who or what she was attacking. Who ever it was they did not feel familiar.

The bang of a door being swung open turned her attention to a group of people, none of them familiar, running into her room seemingly frantic about something. Surprised by the intrusion the red head blasted them back, some against the wall but most of them back through the door, and with a twist of her wrist slammed the door after them, locking it.

Trying to take stock of her current situation she quickly glanced around her room. 'Hey, this isn't my room!'

Her attention went back to the strange group of people still remaining. One tried to approach her murmuring strangely and hold his hands out as if to show her he was unarmed. Willow back up a little though, still uncertain and extremely confused to what was going on.

Using the last of her powers she pushed him back again, but this time not as hard as she had the first time.

This last effort caused her head to spin, and now to exhausted and dazed to care what happened to her next, Willow collapsed back down on the bed.

Feeling something warm crawl down her now bare arm the witch looked down. Blood, she was bleeding. How?

Then as if someone was squeezing her heart, panic and painful realizations of what she last remembered gripped her.

_The last battle at the ancient temple in the heart of the Congo._

_The last battle to save Earth's future._

_She had watched friends fall, Robin, Angel, Cordy, Wesley, all of them lost along with countless many others._

_She remembered looking at their dead, glassey eyes, and then the hopeless eyes of the others who were rapidly falling._

_She wasn't going to let this happen, she was not going to hand over something that they had all bled for, that they believed in and let the evil corrupt, molest, and destroy. She wouldn't let the millions suffer any hell no matter how short their existence may be._

_She would destroy it first._

_She had felt something snap within her, and she accomplished what she had set out to do over five years ago, she had ended it all of Earth's suffering and joy. _

_Permanently._

"Oh Goddess, what have I done?"

Horrified and completely drained of even the will to live she collapsed back on the bed, withdrawing into herself, she didn't notice her spell being released and the woman falling to the ground, the many hands that were now on her treating wounds, or trying to draw her from her now catatonic state.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Has anybody seen anything? Connor?"

Faith received a few negative responses and shaking heads from the others, and was as usual for the past two days, was completely ignored by Connor. Looking pointedly at him, she tried to elicit some sort of response, anger, sadness, anything, but the young man continued to silently stare ahead, as he had been since she found the others two nights ago, making no indication what his feelings were over the loss of his family and loss of the one person who seemed to understand him, Dawn.

Connor and Dawn had become close friends when the slayer group had gone to stay with the AI team in LA following the destruction of Sunnydale. The two shared a common bond due to their unusual mystical arrivals on Earth and seemed to understand each other on a level that none of the others could. During this time the young man had become fiercely protective over his friend, tasking himself with the responsibility of always protecting the young woman. Faith knew that Dawn's loss would probably be one of the biggest on his list of failures along with the death of his father and friends.

Sighing she turned her attention back to the group seated on the wood plank in front of her watching them care for the injured watcher.

The group had managed to hoist the wounded older man on top of the plank of wood someone had earlier guessed to be part of the side of an old ship. The wood was big enough to also hold a few other people at a time, but to keep things fair the ones who were up there were tasked with Giles care. Currently Sara and Vi were the two tasked with this duty

"Vi, how's he holdin up?"

The younger slayer balled up a piece of left over fabric from wrapping Giles' wounds and through it into the water.

"What's the point?" Vi asked angrily, ignoring Faith's question. "It's been almost two days, and every where you look there is water and more water, yet we can't drink any of it. We don't know where we are or were we are going all we are doing is just sitting here waiting to die from either dehydration or exposure."

"Face it, we're being punished for failing to save Earth and this is Hell." Someone yelled out getting a lot of pained looks and some nods of agreement.

"Hell or not we are still alive and being a slayer I refuse to go down unless I go down fighting." Faith stated as per usually, only this time her voice seemed to lack the conviction it always carried.

"Huh, bird." A low masculine voice said from beside her.

"Not your best insult, Xander."

"No stupid, bird," he said pointing up and trying to flap his arms while still holding on to the side of wood, "as in little feathery flying creatures. And were there is a bird there's also..."

"Land." Faith finished, her eyes widened with realization. Several of the others seemed to perk up at this new bit of information as well.

The group watched the bird as it flew back and forth, before settling on hovering in a circular pattern above them.

"Great a vulture." Buffy murmured sarcastically.

Xander shook his head as he watched the bird. "Wonderful just when you think that the Powers are sending you a beacon of hope, they send an omen of death."

The group watched the bird fly in a continued pattern, but as it went to turn into its next circle above them the bird turned into a dive, heading straight for them.

"Heads up ladies," Faith called out, "vulture comin in at three o'clock."

The group in the water lowered themselves deeper as the ones currently on top tried to flatten themselves against the wooden planks. All warily watching the bird headed straight for them, and as the bird came increasingly closer to the group the bigger theirs eyes got.

"Holy-" Xander started, but was interrupted by a loud exclamation from Faith.

"Little feathery thing my ass!" She said, as the bird soared over their heads. "That thing is huge!"

"That's not a vulture, it's an eagle," Xander said as her too stared in awe, "granted it's an eagle the size of a SUV."

Not taking her eyes off the giant bird, Buffy elbowed him. "It's coming back."

Uncomfortable that she was out in the open with little protection, Sara, one of the slayers assigned with Giles' care, scooted in Buffy and Faith' direction, knowing that at least the two elder slayers would be the best protection she could get out in the middle of an ocean. "Uh guys, what do you want us to do?"

Faith stared at the creature as it flew over them for a second time. "I don't think that he wants to hurt us, I think he looks curious."

"It looks like it's examining each and every one of us." Sara shuddered.

"Probably thinking that slayers make a tasty snack." Xander added earning himself another elbow, this time from Faith.

Buffy glared at the bird. The current situation seemed to have made the blond slayer momentarily forget about the loss of the others. "Well tell him to cut it out it, its wigging me out!"

Just then the bird stopped circling and took off, the group watched it until it vanished over the horizon.

"Connor can you still see it?"

"No," he answered slowly shaking his head, before his attention was brought to water around them, and then back to the dark haired slayer, "but we aren't floating in the direction we were before."

Immediately breaking eye contact the young man turned away to resume the heaving brooding that he had been doing since arriving in the damn ocean.

"Man he is so Angel's kid." Faith muttered to herself.

* * *

A thin figure glided gracefully through the moonlit corridors, heading for the chambers which were now housing the first humans ever aloud to walk these lands. Reaching her destination she opened the door silently and peered into the darkened rooms, catching the eye of the only conscious inhabitant, a tall stately blond figure, whose age wizened eye's bellied his current state of exhaustion. He hovered over the human's bedside for a moment before nodding in greeting to the visitor. 

"Good evening, Ariel."

Ariel smiled. "Good evening to you Uncle." She nodded in return as she walked over to the bed, and gazed down at its fragile looking inhabitant.

She had been surprised when the females had first been brought into the healing houses, but the shock had quickly turned to curiosity. Ariel had never seen a human before, but she had heard many from Middle-earth speak of past dealings with them and she herself read several books describing them, and the descriptions that she had come across regarded these beings as simple minded, coarse, stocky creatures, that were somewhat clumsy, with bodies and cleanliness habits more closely resembled to that of dwarves, however after coming into contact with these females, she began to doubt that the accounts were entirely accurate and more likely prejudiced sayings against this particular race of people. Ariel took in the slender woman's facial features from her sculpted brows to her full lips. The woman seemed more elven to Ariel in likeness than dwarvish.

Brushing the hair off the sleeping human's brow Ariel turned back to her uncle. "How is the she this eve?"

"Her powers are now dormant and she is asleep, finally." The tall blond took a deep breath and sat in a chair at the side of the bed.

The discovery of three injured human females on the shores of lands that no human had ever before tread caused a major uproar among their people, which very quickly had almost turned into blind panic when it appeared that two of the women wielded unfathomable powers even in states of deep unconsciousness.

Ariel looked at the women in the bed. "All that power for one so young and fragile."

"She is stronger than she appears; the other two are as well."

"Are either of the others awake?"

"Not as of yet," he sighed heavily and looked at the door connecting this room to the room of the other two woman. "We still are unable to break through the barrier surrounding the darker haired one, though her wounds seem to be mending rapidly on their own."

"Why are they here? Where did they come from?" Ariel wondered aloud, more to herself than to her uncle.

"Who they are and their purpose here is unclear," he answered tiredly. "The Valar only saw fit to send word of their arrival, no other information was given."

"And of the others? The message brought said that they have companions that have yet to be found."

"There is no sign; though it has been said that Gwaihir was seen flying out to sea this morning."

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